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Engineering, Building, and Architecture

Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.

The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.

This is a later printing of 1978.0800.02. Its citation information is: E. I. Fiesenheiser, Versalog Slide Rule Instruction Manual, with R. A. Budenholzer and B. A. Fisher (Chicago: Frederick Post Company, 1963). The text appears not to have been revised since these three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors helped invent the Versalog slide rule and wrote instructions for using it in 1951. Marks inside the front cover indicate this copy was offered for sale in January 1969 for $1.00.

This metal polar planimeter has a white plastic measuring wheel with vernier and a metal registering dial on the 5" tracer arm. The tracer arm is marked on top: DIETZGEN (/) MADE IN U.S.A. Next to the tracer point, it is marked: 22812. The other arm is 8" long and screwed to a cylindrical metal weight.

In the 1920s, the Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago sold a planimeter similar to this one as model 1804. By the 1950s, the planimeter was renumbered to model D1803D and offered in the wooden case with velvet lining mentioned on the label on this example. Later, the plastic and foam case replaced the wooden case. "Dietzgen" is stamped rather than printed on the label inside this case, suggesting that another company made the planimeter and Dietzgen distributed it. This object was found in the Museum in 1984.

In 1950 and 1951, three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors participated in the development of the Versalog slide rule, manufactured by Hemmi of Tokyo, Japan, for the Frederick Post Company of Chicago. E. I. Fiesenheiser, R. A. Budenholzer, and B. A. Fischer subsequently prepared this 115-page hardcover volume explaining the slide rule's capabilities. They covered the care of the instrument, its twenty-three scales, multiplication and division, squares and cubes, exponentials and logarithms, and trigonometric operations. Each professor also contributed a chapter on applications in his specialty: civil, mechanical, or electrical engineering.

This copy is stamped inside the front cover and on the edges: WILLIAM KRUTZ ESQ. See 1978.0800.01.

This two-sided, ten-inch wooden slide rule is coated with yellowed plastic and has metal endpieces. A glass indicator is cracked on both sides and has metal and black plastic edges marked: DIETZGEN. On one side, the base has L, LL1, DF, D, LL3, and LL2 scales, with CF, CIF, LCI, and C scales on the slide. The top of the base is marked in red: DIETZGEN MANIPHASE MULTIPLEX VECTOR TYPE LOG-LOG RULE CAT. NO. 1735.

On the other side, the base has LL0, LL00, A, D, Th, Sh2, and Sh1 scales, with B, T, ST, and S scales on the slide. The top of the base is marked: EUGENE DIETZGEN CO. PATS. 2,170,144 2,285,722 MADE IN U.S.A. 108821. The top edge of the rule is marked in script: Dom Petrone. The bottom edge is marked: DP.

An orange leather case is marked on the flap: K+E. The front of the case is marked: P. Inside the flap is marked: GWU (/) Gerald (/) PETRONE (/) U of Md (/) Easton MD (/) MIT (/) PETRONE, RA. Lines 1–3, 4–5, and 6–7 are each in different inks and handwriting.

The Eugene Dietzgen Company of Chicago offered model 1735 from 1941 to 1952. "Maniphase" refers to an arrangement of scales in which the company added K and CI scales to Mannheim rules; the word is printed on several slide rules sold by the Eugene Dietzgen Company. This rule is similar to 1986.0790.01, but it has hyperbolic tangent and sine scales on the back of the base instead of DI and K scales.

Three U.S. Naval Academy professors applied for the patents mentioned on this slide rule in 1937 and 1938. These patents dealt with arranging and coloring scales so that problems could be solved in the fewest steps; they were also cited on Keuffel & Esser slide rule models 4080 and 4801. (See 1992.0437.01, 2007.0181.01, MA*318482, MA*334387, 1990.0687.01, and 1986.0790.03.)

According to the donor, the rule was purchased by his uncle, Rocco Anthony Petrone (1926–2006), while he was studying for a master's degree in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1950 and 1951. After graduation he developed rockets for the U.S. Army. From 1966 to 1975, Petrone held various leadership positions at NASA, including director of the Apollo program (1969–1973).

Petrone passed the slide rule on to his brother, Dominic J. Petrone, who earned a BS in electrical engineering from Union College in 1950. Dominic gave the rule to his son, Gerald Petrone, who studied engineering at George Washington University in 1969 and subsequently at the University of Maryland at College Park. Gerald broke the indicator and acquired the replacement now on the instrument. He then passed the instrument to his brother, donor David Petrone, who studied electrical engineering at UMCP from 1971 to 1974. At some point, the original case was also replaced with a case from Keuffel & Esser. Several of the Petrones who used the slide rule marked it or the case with their name or initials.

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Charles Miller, of Belleville, Illinois, May 3, 1859, no. 23852.

The engine has two oval pistons or cams each running in a separate circular cylinder or casing. Sliding abutments in the casing bearing on the edges of the cams direct the steam in the forward direction around the casing. Admission of steam is controlled by two flat slide valves working in steam chests on top of the casing. The valves are operated by two eccentrics on the engine shaft. The engine is reversible.

Reference:

This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 184,029 issued to John M. Ayer on November 7, 1876. Ayer’s invention was a design for a railroad refrigerator car that would have improved insulation properties while also being lighter than other cars of the time. The ultimate goal of the improved design was to allow longer shipments of perishable goods without the cost and delay of ice replenishment. Ayer claimed that these goals were achieved without sacrifice in the strength or durability of the car. The basic idea of the patent was to create a double-walled car in which the inner and outer walls of the car were separated by air chambers. The roof of the car also had an air chamber between it and the inner ceiling. The air chambers were interconnected and vented to the outside air so as to permit circulation. This reduced the heating of the insulating air by prolonged contact with the exterior walls and roof when exposed to direct sun. The outer wall and roof were constructed of wood. The inner walls and ceiling were made from a layer of pasteboard (or similar paper product) and a layer of rubber . Both of these materials provided additional insulation, and the inner walls and ceiling were intended to be nearly air tight. The patent provided for double entry doors, and these were constructed of an outer layer of wood with an inner layer of the same pasteboard and rubber. The doors had beveled edges with the inner surfaces being smaller than the outer. The inner rubber surfaces were shaped to form a seal when the doors were secured thus adding to the airtightness of the car. Cars of Ayer’s design were constructed and used on railroads and were documented as still being used in 1903.

The patent model is constructed of wood. There are two cut away sections, one on the side of the car and one on the roof. These show the essential elements of the patent - the air chambers and the inner wall and ceiling of the car. Double doors mounted in the side of the car are shown open to illustrate the seals and beveled edges.

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to C. W. T. Krausch, of Chicago, Illinois, September 9, 1862, no. 36411.

The model represents an instrument designed to indicate and record speeds, draw-bar loads, boiler water levels, boiler pressures, steam-chest pressures, cylinder pressures, and conditions of the track connected with the operation of a locomotive engine and to plot these on a paper belt driven from a truck axle with a motion corresponding to the progress of the engine.

A series of levers and markers corresponding to the number of the above operations to be recorded works transversely on the paper record as the paper is advanced by the progress of the engine. The marker indicating speed is actuated by a spring-balanced bellows, the motion of which is determined by the volume of air delivered to it by small air-pump cylinders actuated by any convenient part of the engine. The other markers are actuated mechanically by a series of levers to various indicating instruments on the engine, not described.*

An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design and performance of the engine.

A mechanical indicator consists of a piston, spring, stylus, and recording system. The gas pressure of the cylinder deflects the piston and pushes against the spring, creating a linear relationship between the gas pressure and the deflection of the piston against the spring. The deflection is recorded by the stylus on a rotating drum that is connected to the piston. Most indicators incorporate a mechanical linkage to amplify the movement of the piston to increase the scale of the record.

When the ratio of the frequency of the pressure variation to the natural frequency of the system is small, then the dynamic deflection is equal to the static deflection. To design a system with a high natural frequency, the mass of the piston, spring, stylus, and mechanical linkage must be small, but the stiffness of the spring must be high. The indicator is subjected to high temperatures and pressures and rapid oscillations, imposing a limitation on the reduction in mass. Too stiff a spring will result in a small displacement of the indicator piston and a record too small to measure with accuracy. Multiplication of the displacement will introduce mechanical ad dynamic errors.

The parameters of the problem for designing an accurate and trouble free recorder are such that there is no easy or simple solution. Studying the variety of indicators in the collection shows how different inventors made different compromises in their designs.

*Reference:

This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Henry Otto and Patrick F. Bell, of Bloomington, Illinois, December 18, 1883, no. 290650.

The model represents a D-slide valve of ordinary shape, with most of the back cut away and formed in the shape of a short hollow cylinder. This cylinder is filled with a closed piston suspended on rollers on a flat bar, which, in turn, is suspended from the top of the valve chest. The bar passes through a tunnel in the piston and is of sufficient length to accommodate the valve travel. The effect of this construction is that the steam pressure ordinarily exerted on the back of a flat valve is in this case exerted on a piston that is not a part of the valve but is suspended independently.

Reference:

This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 208,208 issued to Elijah H. Smith on September 17, 1878. His invention was an improved design for a windmill with folding sails. The concept of the folding sail windmill was not new. In fact Mr. Smith had received an earlier patent for such a windmill. Folding sails allowed the windmill to automatically regulate its speed in varying wind strengths. As the wind increased the individual arms and sails would progressively fold up to present less area to the wind, thus acting as a governor. Once completely folded the windmill had little more cross section to the wind than would a windmill with a single arm and two sails. In Smith’s first folding sail design the maximum angle between its eight sails was limited by leather straps interconnecting each sail arm. Speed was then controlled by an auxiliary sail attached to the sails on the inner most sail arm. This auxiliary sail was loosely held down onto its host sail by a spring. As the wheel speed became greater the spring was overcome and the auxiliary sail would open to an angle of 90 degrees to the plane of the primary sail. This caused the inner arm and sails to slow until it was behind the next outer arm and sails, and this was repeated for the rest of the arms and sails until the wheel was folded. At that point little more than two sails face the wind and the speed of the wheel would be at a minimum. Smith included a braking wheel on the hub of the inner most arm and sail set. A wooden lever was pivoted at the front of the cross-head and could be pulled down by a rope led to the base of the windmill, thus making the lever contact the brake wheel and stop the windmill. There were two new elements in Smith’s 1878 patent. The first was to replace the function of the leather straps that controlled arm and sail spacing with a new design for the hubs at the center of each arm. Each hub had metal projections on its circumference that limited the motion of the next arm to an angle of 30 degrees to it. The outer-most arm was secured in place with a set screw on the shaft. This allowed the six arms to be evenly spaced around the wheel when fully extended. Folding of the wheel in heavy wind was controlled as in the earlier patent. The second new element was a modification of the braking mechanism. The tail-board beam was pivoted at the rear of the cross-head. This allowed the front of the beam to move upward to contact the brake wheel, and the weight of the tail-board was sufficient to apply friction and stop the windmill. A rod attached to the front of the brake lever was led to the base of the windmill and could be drawn down and pinned to disable the brake for normal operation.

The patent model is constructed of wood and metal and is mounted on a wooden base. The model illustrates the main elements of the patent including the hubs controlling the spacing of the arms when extended and the braking mechanism. The model also includes a thread representing the rope extending to the base of the windmill tower used to engage the braking mechanism. Not represented on the model is the auxiliary sail used to fold the windmill to govern speed in high winds.

This small, 3-cylinder, radial, air engine was designed and made by Henry James Kimman (1862-1921), a pioneer inventor of small portable piton air drills. It is believed that the engine was built for a steering engine on a steam roller. The experience gained in the construction of the engine directed his interest to the design of air drills, in which field he made valuable contributions.

Reference:

This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.